Chart: Sometimes as GDP Goes Up, Racial Tolerance Goes Down

Your counter-intuitive study of the day is here, thanks to the inquisitive folks at Gallup. They've found that, contrary to the usual GDP-up-tolerance-up belief, as a developing country increases its GDP, the perceived racial tolerance of the country actually decreases. The trend reverses once you start looking at developed countries. Gallup notes the similarity between the graph above and the U-shaped pattern of an economic theory called the Kuznets curve, which posits that economic development may actually increase income inequality in developing countries up to a certain point, when it starts to decline again. Similarly, a country's perception of minority acceptance starts to rise again after reaching an average annual income per capita of over $8,000. Gallup goes as far as suggesting that perceptions of racial inclusiveness may have played a significant role in the social tension in Egypt and Tunisia this year.